Headgames I: Fates & Fairies Three stone heads sit in darkness. "Dudes, it is high time we got out of Grandmother's basement." "So stating the obvious, Dude. First off, we pay our debt to Grandmother." "We got that covered, Dude, but leaving before we can stand on our own feet seems, like, way too soon." "Dude, not that argument again. Like, the sooner we get out there the sooner we get this stuff resolved." "I am so looking forward to some righteous food. 'Cause, like, while I can remember decent food, it's like we have never had a bite to eat. Not freaking ever." "Dudes, from this point, things are destined to get better." *** Three Oracles contemplate their escape from a chamber deep beneath a keep where madmen dwell. "So, Dudes, can we go over this one more time? 'Cause, like, I am so not happy with so much death." "Dude, we have done the freaking math a few hundred thousand times. The whole point in the long term is to maximize the number of deaths anyway." "You make it sound harsh, Dude. I so get it, the world is, like, a harsh place and the more folk that live means the more folk that die. But, like, some of these folk the Little Dude will miss." "Okay, Dude, if we keep him from missing folk, then all the friends who die before they become his friends never even get missed. That's, like, way harsh, Dude." "No way around this shit, Dudes, we have to be stolen by Goblins." *** The Three Fates contemplate their own existence. "So, like, Dudes, were we born of Necessity or from Darkness and Night?" "Dude, you keep leaving out Zeus and Themis." "That is all Greek to me, Dudes." "So many freaking weird stories about us, I don't know which to believe. "You are so freaking weird, Dude, we were made by Elves in another world." "Technically, Dude, Wyrd is what we all are." *** It is February 8, 1977. My name is Benjamin Gray and I am twelve years old. When I was quite young, my mother was sent to the Winter House for a visit. My father held me and cried. Something happened and my mother was no longer considered "quite right." Both the Graham and Gray families felt that she should remain in care at the Winter House. She has had good moments and though my father visited only the one time, I spent my summers with her and the rest of the family that lived there. Though no one sat me down and explained why so many of my line are no longer quite right, the story I pieced together and have grown to fear is this: Down in a basement, guarded more effectively than any bank, are three skulls. After you go to sleep next to them, you will wake up with a dream or nightmare that is more valuable than gold. Over time, you may become wise and important, but your mind will never heal. I know that this is ridiculous, but then fears are often based on too much speculation and too little knowledge. *** I wake up. Llyn says, "Did any of that make sense to thee? Apart from not using the word 'you." None of the rest made any sense to me." The rest of the Fairies all seem to agree that the Heads talk nonsense. It seems clear to me. I need to be formal with the Fairies, something very bad is going to happen to me next month, the Heads don't want to be found yet, and I need to relax around girls. All that and I need to pick up a Head. In case it is anything like Donald's was when I got it, I am going to need some rubber gloves.